Radlett Wire

For over ten years - since way before everything went weird - we've been droning on about Radlett and the Hertsmere Parliamentary constituency

Last refreshed: August 15th, 2025 at 4:40 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

Hertfordshire County Council elections – preview

Honestly, is there anything more boring? We’re struggling to think of anything. County Council elections have none of the obvious glamour of the national contest, the stakes are lower and – let’s face it – nobody knows what they do (quick, make a list of five things that your county council is responsible for! No Googling! See?). Click here to go straight to the bit about Radlett, the Watling electoral division and Caroline Clapper, our councillor. Who are the candidates we can vote for here in ...

Apr 27, 2025

The Sir Oliver Dowden sketchy behaviour monitor, part two

In which we ask what happens to an MP’s priorities when three quarters of his income comes from his second (and third) jobs? Show him the money! UPDATE: 20 April 2025 : Sir Oliver’s new favourite football team San Diego FC got absolutely clattered 3-0 at Charlotte, finishing with ten men after some VAR drama. And it was a very long flight home for the San Diego boys. Not quite as long as Sir Oliver’s back in March, though, obviously. Watch the match highlights . As we’ve explained before , once ...

Apr 18, 2025

DC01UK: data centre drama

It’s a few months since we learnt that Europe’s biggest data centre might be built here in Hertsmere – what could stop it from happening? In part three of our DC01UK deep dive we’ll look at the various obstacles that must be overcome before it goes live on the Internet in 2030 ( some updated information about AI chips and Donald Trump’s sanctions on China added to this post on 8 May 2025 ). It might fall at the first hurdle . The scheme has outline planning permission from Hertsmere Borough Coun...

Apr 04, 2025

DC01UK: a demanding new neighbour

Previously on Radlett Wire : two local firms have secured outline planning permission to build Europe’s biggest data centre right here in Hertsmere. We don’t know much more than that. For instance we don’t know who the final client is or who will use the facility once it’s live. Likewise, we have only the most basic information about the facility itself . If you know more than we do about any of this or if you have anything you’d like us to know about the development, leave a comment under this ...

Mar 18, 2025

DC01UK: Hertsmere steps into history

Well, possibly. Data centres are the cotton mills and steel foundries of our day. Vast, industrial-scale facilities that are right at the heart of the fourth industrial revolution. And one might be built right here, next to the motorway in South Mimms. One of those visualisations that developers churn out. More here . We’ll admit to a certain childish excitement about this. Mysterious developers want to build Europe’s largest data centre right here in Hertsmere . The developer applied for planni...

Feb 04, 2025

First mover

There might be a by-election in Hertsmere in the new year. Reform UK is the first to have noticed Boom. First out the gate. Reform UK is distributing leaflets in Hertsmere in anticipation of a by-election in the new year. Candidate Darren Selkus’s letter to electors says: If the rumours prove true and Oliver Dowden is granted a peerage in the New Year Honours, it would trigger a by-election right here in Hertsmere. With Labour still in power and the Conservatives in opposition, this presents a u...

Dec 01, 2024

Slim pickings

Look, we know we should have expected this, but we’re experiencing a bit of a post-election comedown. There’s plenty of action in Parliament, of course, and it’s kind of mind-blowing to hear the man in the big hat reading out a list of broadly social-democratic laws , even if some of them are a bit arbitrary and possibly even cynical. But in our favourite bit of politics: the parliamentary and government career of our MP, Sir Oliver Dowden, things have gone very quiet indeed. Let’s have a little...

Jul 21, 2024

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